Cal, Stanford and San Jose State football: National Signing Day preview

*** The day has unfolded as expected for Cal, with the Bears signing a 21-player class that is expected to be ranked in the middle (lower middle) of the Pac-12. The Bears managed to hang onto TB Tre Watson.

BANG’s Jeff Faraudo has more on Watson and will have another story this afternoon (check here) on Sonny Dykes’ reaction to the class.

*** Stanford gained two and lost one in the final hours.

Gained: 3-star CB Terrence Alexander and 4/5-star DE Solomon Thomas.

Lost: 3-star DE Uriah Leiataua (to BYU).

My story on the Cardinal’s class will be published this evening (here), following coach David Shaw’s 3:30 p.m. press conference.

*** San Jose State picked up an important prospect Wednesday when De Anza College defensive end Victor Vernon announced for the Spartans.

We’ve already got one piece of news involving the Bay Area teams: Stanford picked up major addition this morning when Solomon Thomas, a 5-star defensive end from Texas, announced he would sign with the Cardinal over UCLA and Arkansas.

Thomas did it wearing nerd glasses and using a small tree as a prop.

Quickie thoughts on the Spartans, Cardinal and Bears, all while keeping in mind 1) the inexact nature of recruiting and 2) the time needed for accurate assessment.

We won’t know for sure about the ’14 classes until the fall or 2016-17, when the signees are third- and fourth-year players.

*** Stanford did what Stanford does: It corralled elite prospects at its prime positions: tight end, fullback and offensive line.

But my hunch is the class could ultimately be graded on the development of the defensive backs and, to a slightly lesser extent, the linebackers.

The class is ranked in the top 15-20 nationally and is considered one of the best in the Pac-12. It’s not big on quantity (approx 20), but it’s heavy on quality.

*** Ron Caragher’s first recruiting class at SJSU was not well received. (I believe panned is the proper term.)

His second class … a group that Caragher and his staff have been locked on for nine months … has drawn much better reviews.

The Spartans are in the top half of the Mountain West in Scout’s rankings and only because of quantity are lagging in the Rivals tally.

From the standpoint of the caliber of prospects — the quality component — it’s one of SJSU’s best classes. Ever.

Whether it ultimately meets that standard depends, to a certain extent, on at least one of the quarterbacks (Malik Watson and Ian Fieber) becoming an elite MW-level passer.

*** Cal’s class could have been worse … and was worse until a week ago.

Problem is, coach Sonny Dykes set the bar unrealistically high when he declared in December that he’d be “shocked” if the Bears didn’t sign one of the top-three classes in the conference.

They weren’t in the top three at the time, and they are nowhere close to the top three now.

Compared to the expectations set by the head coach, the class is a clunker.

But given what transpired last fall, Dykes and Co. have done a decent job. It’s unreasonable to frame the recruiting season as a roaring success but also unfair to label it a failure.